Seventeen upsets took place among the major MMA organizations in March, making it a packed month of oddsmaker surprises as compared to January and February. Topping the list was a sizable betting upset in Joseph Benavidez’s second round submission victory over former bantamweight champion Miguel Torres at WEC 47. A nasty cut from a Benavidez elbow left Torres vulnerable to the fight-ending submission and the victory for a nearly +300 underdog. The second and third biggest upsets on the list came from the same WEC card, as both Brian Bowles and Karen Darabedyan suffered losses as moderate favorites over Dominick Cruz and Bart Palaszewski, respectively. Full results below.

Favorites won 72% of the 63 major MMA bouts in March, resulting in the 17 underdog victories shown below. Six of the upsets took place in the UFC, five were at the WEC 47 card, three were from Dream.13, two from Sengoku 12, and a single upset at the Strikeforce Challengers card. Seven of the upsets were via decision, six came by KO or TKO, and four were delivered by submission. Bouts that did not have posted oddsmaker’s lines did not qualify for the list.

Rank

Odds

Loser
Name

Odds

Winner
Name

Result

Fight Date

Event
Name

1

-330

Miguel Torres

+293

Joseph Benavidez

Round 2 Submission

3/6

WEC 47

2

-293

Karen Darabedyan

+230

Bart Palaszewski

Round 1 Submission

3/6

WEC 47

3

-275

Brian Bowles

+232

Dominick Cruz

Round 2 KO/TKO

3/6

WEC 47

4

-260

Nate Quarry

+210

Jorge Rivera

Round 2 KO/TKO

3/31

UFC Fight Night 21

5

-235

Yoshiro Maeda

+185

Cole Escovedo

Round 1 KO/TKO

3/22

Dream.13

6

-235

Ronys Torres

+185

Jacob Volkmann

Decision

3/31

UFC Fight Night 21

7

-225

Nick Denis

+175

Yuji Hoshino

Round 2 Submission

3/7

Sengoku 12

8

-224

Jason High

+174

Charlie Brenneman

Decision

3/31

UFC Fight Night 21

9

-171

Andrews Nakahara

+136

Ryo Chonan

Decision

3/22

Dream.13

10

-164

Duane Ludwig

+141

Darren Elkins

Round 1 KO/TKO

3/21

UFC on Versus 1

11

-158

Frank Mir

+145

Shane Carwin

Round 1 KO/TKO

3/27

UFC 111

12

-153

Rodney Wallace

+130

Jared Hamman

Decision

3/27

UFC 111

13

-150

Mamed Khalidov

+120

Jorge Santiago

Decision

3/7

Sengoku 12

14

-137

Danny Castillo

+121

Anthony Pettis

Round 1 KO/TKO

3/6

WEC 47

15

-133

George Bush

+103

Ron Humphrey

Round 1 Submission

40263

Strikeforce Challengers 7

16

-128

Deividas Taurosevicius

+103

L.C. Davis

Decision

3/6

WEC 47

17

-127

Joachim Hansen

-104

Bibiano Fernandes

Decision

3/22

Dream.13

Tapology’s MMA odds analysis uses posted lines across more than five of the major sportsbook websites. The final lines available immediately before the start of each fight are used. Bouts from Affliction, Dream, EliteXC, Sengoku, Strikeforce, UFC, and WEC are included.